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Monthly Archives: October 2012

Note: Thanks to ScarletReport.com’s Sam Hellman for providing the quotes for this practice report.

The Rutgers football team got back to normalcy, practicing on Wednesday for the first time since the impact of Hurricane Sandy forced Scarlet Knights coach Kyle Flood to cancel team activities Monday and Tuesday.

“A lot of our players, our caoches and families are dealing with it,” Flood said, “but I think we’ve been very fortunate from what I understand. We’re in probably much better shape than some of the surrounding areas down at the Shore, in Staten Island, on the coast of Long Island. There are people that have it a lot worse off than us and I want them to know that we’re thinking about them for sure.”

The Scarlet Knights (7-1) will practice Thursday before taking Friday and Saturday off as part of their second and final bye weekend of the season. Flood said preparations for the Nov. 10 home affair against Army will begin in earnest on Sunday.

Folks, let me start by saying I hope everyone out there is safe, and if property was damaged, at least it is stuff that could be replaced.

Training for Sunday’s New York City marathon continued Wednesday as I ran three miles, but it was very strange. As of now, it is still a go, and I still plan on running.

That said, two very important things must get worked out for me to run.

First, I have to figure out a way to get my bib.

Second, I have to figure out a way to get to the starting line.

I am set to stay in New York on Saturday and Sunday nights, but I am not sure how I will get there. I am also unsure if I get there, how I can get to the starting line, or actually be able to leave the city Monday.

There is a lot of confusion and very little answers at this point, but I have to decide by Friday at 11:59 p.m. Prior to then I can push my entry back to the 2013 race, and after that I am signed up to run.

I wish there was a way to push the race back a week, but I know it would be a logistical nightmare. Other than that, all I can say is stay safe.

Editor’s note: Brian Dohn, a northeast recruiting analyst for Scout.com who covers Rutgers for ScarletReport.com, is running the NYC Marathon for the National MS Society in honor of his sister. Click HERE for more information.

With the university closed Monday and Tuesday due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy, Rutgers coach Kyle Flood opted to cancel all team activities today.

“We’re stuck in the middle of a hurricane where the university is actually shutdown Monday and Tuesday. There’s a state of emergency so we’ve got a couple different challenges,” said Flood, whose Scarlet Knights are idle this weekend before playing host to Army on Nov. 10. “We’ve canceled all of our activities for the day to keep everybody safe. We thought that was the best thing to do. It’s really not safe for the players to be traveling. But we’re hoping to get back on track sometime tomorrow afternoon if the weather permits. We’ll go from there and start preparing for an Army team that presents unique challenges every year.”

The Scarlet Knights were originally slated to practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before taking Friday and Saturday off and game-planning for Army this Sunday. But with school officials deciding to deflate the indoor practice bubble in preparations for the hurricane on Sunday, Flood said he expects to cancel practice on Tuesday.

Despite being ranked in the two polls that make up the human element of the BCS Standings, Rutgers was shutout from the BCS Top 25 on Sunday night.

The Scarlet Knights (7-1 overall, 4-0 Big East) were pegged No. 23 in the Harris Poll and No. 25 in the USA Today/Coaches poll, but didn’t receive enough points in the computer rankings to earn their way in the standings that decide the National Championship race.

Nadir Barnwell, Piscataway High’s star quarterback/cornerback, who last month offered a non-binding commitment to play for Rutgers beginning next season, re-injured his right (non-throwing) shoulder in the Chiefs’ victory over North Brunswick on Friday night and his status for the remainder of the year is unknown.

“I hope he can (return),” Piscataway coach Dan Higgins said. “We definitely don’t want to jeopardize his future because it’s so bright and I know he’s going to do real well over at Rutgers, so it’s tricky.

“We’ll make the right decision — whatever that decision is — under the advice from the medical people that know more than we do.”

Greg Tufaro, Home News Tribune high school football beat reporter, has all the details on his blog.

The last Sunday of training is always a bit strange, the calm before the storm. It’s not about pushing hard, but rather enjoying the last moments.

It’s the calm before the storm, which on this day took on a different meaning.

It was an ominous eight miles, run on a gray afternoon in which I was pre-occupied by a different type of checklist than I am usually going through a week before running 26.2 miles.

The New York City Marathon and the RaceToStopMS is now a week away, or at least it is scheduled to be a week away. The impending hit of Hurricane Sandy could change that, although it would take something catastrophic for the race to be postponed because I cannot imagine cancelling or postponing something so far reaching, and the logistical nightmare of it.

In my fourth year on the Rutgers women’s basketball beat, I am one of the 40 voters for the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time.

My preseason ballot is pasted below and here is a link to the AP Preseason Top 25 poll. The main point of discrepancy between the two is the positioning of Ohio St., which I slotted right after the first five no-brainers.

Ohio St. returns four starters and its entire bench from a team that went 25-7 — including 19-0 at home — but lost to Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after feeling snubbed in the seeding process. Included in that group of returnees are Big Ten Preseason Co-Player of the Year Tayler Hill and last season’s Big Ten Defense Player of the Year Amber Stokes.

While most of the questions around Ohio St. concern replacing the other half of last season’s dynamic 1-2 punch — Big Ten all-time assist leader and second-leading scorer Samantha Prahalis (19.8 ppg) — while playing in a stacked-at-the-top conference, it’s not smart to bet against new Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Foster.

I considered Rutgers — and would have it ahead of Big East rival No. 25 DePaul — but the lack of big-game experience in the backcourt was too much of a concern.

In the wake of his team’s 35-23 setback to Kent State — and with his 7-1 team idle until a Nov. 10 home affair against Army — Rutgers coach Kyle Flood spent nearly 11 minutes answering questions from the media:

On the plan moving forward in light of Hurricane Sandy:

“The plan going into the bye week was to give the players off today. They have some academic responsibilities and guys that are a little banged up have treatment by appointment. Tomorrow morning we’ll have an academic check at breakfast and then the players will have a little film session in the morning. But they won’t do anything in the weight room or on the practice field tomorrow. And that was our plan for Sunday and Monday.

“We have a plan to practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday similar to what we did the first bye week but what we’re going to do as a staff is meet tomorrow afternoon and see where we’re at. I know hour-to-hour these things can change. … But certainly with the safety of the players and the situation that could be going on around campus we’re going to have to re-assess all that stuff Monday afternoon and kind of go from there.”

Here is my AP Top 25 ballot following Week 9 action, and you’ll notice a change near the top. Alabama remains No. 1 while Notre Dame moves to 2 following its convincing triumph at Oklahoma. The debate this week will be what to do with Kansas State-Notre Dame-Oregon. I favored the Irish based on their quality of wins. Notre Dame’s best wins include triumphs over then-ranked Michigan State, then-ranked Michigan and No. 17 Stanford while Kansas State’s best non-conference win was Miami (Notre Dame’s win over the ‘Canes was more dominant) and has beaten Oklahoma, West Virginia and Texas Tech in conference. Problem with the Oregon Ducks is they really haven’t done anything yet; their best non-conference win is Fresno State. So right now, based on performance, it’s Alabama, Notre Dame, Kansas State and Oregon in my top-4. I bumped Georgia to 5 because they beat Florida, which beat LSU. Their lone loss is to South Carolina, which moves up to 8 ahead of unbeaten Louisville and Ohio State. As for the bottom, I considered Rutgers but the problem now with the Scarlet Knights is it’s Week 9 and they still don’t own a win over a team with a current winning record. They don’t have a Top 25 resume, not when I couldn’t even get Kent State into my ballot this week. And barring a total lack of options over the next two polls, the Scarlet Knights probably won’t merit Top 25 consideration until they play Cincinnati on Nov. 17. Win at Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and beat Louisville to end the season and the Scarlet Knights will be ranked — probably inside the Top 15 — again.

“I just feel like they came out and they executed better than us,” said Nova, who threw for 313 yards on 25-for-46 passing in falling to 10-3 as Rutgers’ starting signal caller. ” They played better than us throughout the game. We’re not going to hang our heads. Ultimately, we’re going to focus on a Big East championship.”

Listen to what Nova had to say following his worst performance to date — a game in which he doubled his interception tally (3) for the season.

The final Big Ten match and a weekend to go over .500 The last weekend of the regular season....and Rutgers is sub-.500. Let me catch my breath. It’s been a rough season: the high of putting Nick Suriano on the mat coupled with the low of not having Anthony Ashnault. Injuries and a lack of […]